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ATFM in Singapore

Purpose of ATFM

• Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) is the regulation of air traffic to avoid exceeding airport or air traffic control capacity in handling traffic and to ensure that available capacity is used efficiently

• ATFM is one of the element of Air Traffic Management (ATM). The other elements being Air Traffic Control (ATC) and Airspace Management (ASM)

• ATFM uses updated flight information to predict traffic demand, and pre-tactically adjust the aggregate flows of flights to balance the demand against capacity through optimising the use of available resources

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ATM

ASM ATFM ATC

Usual Capacity Reduction Events

• Capacity reduction due to operational conditions• Inclement weather,• Abnormal operations (e.g. FOD, emergency, etc)• Planned events leading to closure of airspace (e.g. Singapore

Airshow, National Day, etc)

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CAAS ATFM Unit – Operationalised in Dec 2018–Finishing touches

• 40+ trained FMPs• 24/7 operations

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ATFM desk from 2015 – early 2019

ATFM Initiatives for Singapore

• Regional flights –Distributed Multi-Nodal ATFM procedures and processes– GDPs, MINITs conversion

• Long Range ATFM (LR-ATFM) processes to complement flow management

• Interoperability with other ATFM groups

• Working towards Trajectory Based Operations (TBO)

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Distributed Multi-Nodal ATFM

ATFM around the World

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AirServices Australia’s Network Operations

Centre (NOC)South Africa’s ATNS Central

Airspace Management Unit

(CAMU)

FAA’s ATC System Command Center

NavCanada’sNational

Operations Center

EUROCONTROLNetwork Manager

Operations Centre (NMOC)

Japan’s Air Traffic Management

Centre (ATMC)

The Need for ATFM in the Asia and Pacific (APAC) Region

• Lack of ATFM service for the APAC region• The airspace of the Asia/Pacific Region, particularly that of South East

Asia, consists of a number of relatively small FIRs and high volume of air traffic movement between major city pairs traversing several FIRs

• Unlike the others, a centralized ATFM Unit (ATFMU) for the Asia/Pacific region may not be palatable as there are many FIRs managed by different ANSPs

• A unique ATFM concept of operation is thus required for the Asia Pacific Region which can potentially be applied in regions to address cross-border ATFM issues, as an alternative to the centralized ATFM concept

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Developing Cross-Border ATFM Capabilities

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Particularly important to Singapore, as Changi’s traffic comprises entirely of international traffic.

Approximately 80% of Changi’s traffic operateswithin the APAC region

ATS Units

AeroMET

ARRIVAL ATFM NODE Flight Operations Centre

(FOC) Pilot

ATS Units

A-CDM

DEPARTURE ATFM NODE

Airport Operator

ATFM Information

Exchange

Flow Management Position

(FMP) FMP

Airport Operator

Distributed Multi-Nodal ATFM Concept of Operation

Level 3 ATFM NodesGenerate, Distribute, Comply to CTOT China Cambodia Hong Kong China Singapore Thailand

Level 2 ATFM NodesReceive and Comply to CTOT Indonesia Malaysia Myanmar Philippines

Level 1 ATFM NodesObservers Lao PDR Viet Nam*

Distributed Multi-Nodal ATFM Network Concept -Tiered Approach in ANSP Participation

• Project expanded to include 11 ANSPs and their encompassing stakeholders

• i.e. Airport and Airlines Partners

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• Adopted a tiered-approach to cater for the varying levels of readiness

• Total Airports in the Multi-Nodal ATFM Network

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An Example of Post Ops results – Jan/Jul 2017

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• 13 ATFM measures conducted

• 3400 Minutes Saved

166600 Kg

523600 Kg

S$206,000

• Decreased Air Traffic Complexity

• Increased Predictability for stakeholders

Long Range ATFM

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Long Range ATFM

• Need for ATFM for flights beyond short/medium haul range to achieve a holistic approach to optimizing air traffic flow

• Tripartite collaboration between Airways NZ, CAAS and NATS UK• To develop a sustainable concept of operation for the regulation of

long haul flights (greater then 2500NM)

• On-going development of the concept of operations (Conops)• Each ANSPs would alter the initial Conops to suit their operating

environment• CAAS conducted 2 trials which validated the feasibility of the concept

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Concept of Operation

Window for Est Time Over (ETO) and TTO passing/revision

Target Time Over (TTO) fix

1st ETO for TTO fix established

DCB ProcessRecalculates TTO on receipt of:• Change in ETO of greater

than VSP value• Change of TMA capacity

and resulting delay

DCB Process• Calculates and forecasts

arrival airspace demand and capacity

• Issues initial TTO based on forecast demand and capacity balance

• Only applied when balancing is required

Tactical ATFM measures i.e.

AMAN/Vectors/speeds

Top of Climb Minimum time from TTO fix for TTO passing (Based on amount of DCB process and delay

absorption capability of flight)

FIRFIR FIRFIRFIRADESADEP

Crew Based Response to TTO

Crew request to active ATC authority and approval before commencing any change to meet TTO

Aircraft acceptance or re-negotiation

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LR-ATFM- ASIST

ASIST – Arrival Sequencing in Singapore TMA

• CAAS and SIA’s joint initiative to reduce arrival delay, expansion of the LR-ATFM initiative

• Three phases of operational trials prior implementation• Phase 1 (Proof of concept) commenced in Jan 19

– SQ flights with STA between 0500-0700LT via waypoint VPK and ARAMA

– TTOs are spaced 2mins apart to regulate flow over boundary point

– TTOs are calculated and issued by SIA OCC• Phase 2 and 3 to involve CAAS

– ATFMU to calculate and issue TTOs– Tentative to start in Nov 2019

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Phases of ASIST operational trials

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Phase 1• Proof of concept

using selected waypoints for SIA flights scheduled to arrive at Changi Airport from 0500LT to 0700LT

Phase 2

• Refinement of Phase 1 and expand to all waypoints

• SQ and MI flights• Real-time

compliance monitoring on random flights

Phase 3

• Include other airlines with flights expected to land between 0500LT and 0700LT

Benefits of ASIST as seen in Phase 1 trials

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20 Oct18 2115utc 2 Aug19 2115utc

3 SQ arrivals approaching VPK at the same time

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180

Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov

nm

Average Track Mile

2018 2019

0

50

Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov

Hold

ing

Rate

(%)

Holding Rate

2018 2019

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Summary

Summary

• Development of ATM concepts such as LR-ATFM and ASIST will help to enhance our ability to regulate traffic into Singapore

• Prelude to future CONOPS such as Trajectory Based Operations (TBO)

• Quantitative benefits• With full ATFM operationalisation and reduced fuel burn:

• SGD 2.8 million in fuel savings annually• 7,000 metric tons reduction in CO2

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Estimated Landing TimeATFM

Estimated Landing Time

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THANK YOU